A small step

Tonight I harvested the first food from my garden; 36 grams of lettuce and spinach mix. It's a small step towards my food freedom. The lettuce and spinach were grown in a cold frame I built myself out of reclaimed materials. The seeds were sown about a month ago. The cold frame sits in a 1000 sq foot garden that I'm tending for the summer. I hope to keep track of my harvest in this blog so I can see how far along my path I get.
My path to freedom is multi-pronged. It's not just about food freedom. There's also a financial aspect. I have to get my debt down to a level that's manageable with a part-time or no-time job. I have a college degree, but I didn't understand the level of debt that would bring to my life. No one's fault really, tuition just rose too quickly to take stock of what was happening. There's probably a whole bunch of twenty-somethings in the exact same position. My part time jobs didn't even make a dent. I refuse to pay 25% of my income to student loans until I'm 40. Refuse. Debt free seems to be an oddity in our culture, but I'm determined. That journey will also be documented here in this blog, so I can see my progress.
Lastly, I want to be free of fossil fuels. I think they're a limited resource, unsustainable. Unsustainable is just not going to cut it anymore. Mass transit, telecommuting, my bike; these options have to be made to work. Gas is $3.62 today in Iowa, what's it going to be by summer's end? 4$? Who can afford that? Unsustainable. My bike is paid for, sound and runs only on calories. There has to be a way to make that work.
So. 3 prongs. Food, finances, fuel. Shelter will factor in one day, but it'll be much easier with the 3 prongs taken care of first. This is my path.